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Power (episode)
Power was the second episode of Series D it was first broadcast 5 October 1981. While Soolin had appeared in the previous episode this is the first episode where she joins Avon and the crew. Synopsis From the VHS release: With Avon in the hands of primitive warriors and the silo door to Scorpio impossible to open without him, things look bleak food-wise for the survivors of the Liberator. Then Vila discovers Dorian's nuclear compression charge and suddenly the future of the whole base is at stake... Plot Tarrant and Dayna try to force Vila to open the silo to Scorpio, since it is the only way off the planet and Xenon Base has only a limited amount of food stock. Meanwhile, Avon is searching Xenon's surface for dynamon crystals, which Orac has told him can be used to complete the teleport system. However, he is attacked by a primitive tribe, the Hommiks, and captured. While Tarrant and Dayna are searching for Avon, a woman named Pella enters the base and tells Vila that her tribe, the Seska, have been helping Dorian with the teleport in exchange for food supplies. She reveals there is a nuclear compression charge hidden inside the silo which Dorian had to reset every 48 hours or it would detonate. Tarrant and Dayna return and are reluctant to believe Vila's story about Pella, since the only hatch she could have used is locked from the inside, until they see her and her compatriots Kate and Luxia on a monitor. The three Seska are attacked by the Hommiks: Pella and Luxia are captured but Kate escapes after being wounded. Avon is taken to the Hommiks' leader Gunn Sar, who tells him all the dynamon crystals have been mined and that he rules by right of challenge. When Gunn Sar goes to strike his wife Nina, Avon challenges him to a duel. He manages to rip open a power cable and use it to sever Gunn Sar's sword but is knocked unconscious and imprisoned with Pella. Tarrant and Dayna review old records where Nina, then the Seska leader, relates the Hommik attack on the last Seska stronghold. They begin to realise the Seska are all female and the Hommicks male. Pressed for information, Orac reveals Pella managed to open the hatch telekinetically. Avon and Pella escape together but find Nina has already removed the dynamon crystal grafted onto Luxia, depriving her of her powers. Avon takes the crystal against Pella's wishes. He finds one of the Hommicks, Cato, manning a monitoring station and is informed that after the war between the Hommicks and Seska the council chose to abandon all technology. Before Cato can say more, the crossbow Avon is carrying suddenly fires, killing him. Avon realises it was fired telekinetically by Pella, who knocks him out and retrieves the crystal. Vila, Tarrant and Dayna are captured by the Hommiks and Dayna challenges Gunn Sar to a duel. Pella rejoins Kate and they covertly assist Dayna with their powers, killing Gunn Sar. Nina elects to lead the Hommiks away from the area. Vila, Tarrant and Dayna return to the base and are joined by Pella and Kate, who admit they are the only remaining Seska. Vila manages to cut a hole in the silo so the pair can deactivate the charge telekinetically. Avon then appears and reveals he had Orac lie about the passcode needed to access the silo: Like Dorian, he realised that Pella was not working on a teleport but a way to increase her telekinetic powers so she could open the silo and steal Scorpio. Pella holds Dayna at gunpoint, forcing Avon to open the silo, and kills Kate when she tries to stop her. As Scorpio takes off, Avon uses Kate's crystal to complete the teleport and teleports aboard the ship, killing Pella when she fires at him and bringing the ship into orbit with help from Slave, who Orac has reprogrammed to obey anyone. Tarrant and Dayna also teleport aboard but Vila is left behind and when he does teleport aboard he has Soolin with him: She asks to join the crew, offering them her gunslinging skills. Cast *Avon - Paul Darrow *Vila - Michael Keating *Dayna - Josette Simon *Tarrant - Steven Pacey *Soolin - Glynis Barber *Slave/Orac - Peter Tuddenham * Gunn Sar - Dicken Ashworth * Pella - Juliet Hammond Hill * Nina - Jenny Oulton * Cato - Paul Ridley * Kate - Alison Glennie * Luxia - Linda Barr Crew * Production Manager - Ralph Wilton * Production Associate - Frank Pendlebury * Production Assistant - Valerie Turner * Assistant Floor Manager - Josephine Ward * Film Cameraman - Fintan Sheehan * Film Sound - John Tellick * Film Editor - Sheila S. Tomlinson * Videotape Editor - Sam Upton * Visual Effects Designer - Jim Francis, Andy Lazell * Video Effects - Robin Lobb * Graphic Designer - Doug Burd * Properties Buyer - Francis Smith * Technical Manager - Terry Brett * Senior Cameraman - Dave White * Vision Mixer - Nigel Finnis * Studio Lighting - Warwick Fielding * Studio Sound - Malcolm Johnson * Special Sound - Elizabeth Parker * Costume Designer - Nicholas Rocker * Make Up Artist - Suzanne Jansen * Music By - Dudley Simpson * Series Created By - Terry Nation Story notes *This is the last of three episodes written by Ben Steed. Ratings 8.7M Filming locations Betchworth Quarry, Reigate, Surrey Production errors To be added. Continuity *There are several references to the events of "Rescue" including Dorian's death and the crew's escape from Terminal. *The teleport system attached to Scorpio and Xenon Base is used for the first time in this episode, which also sees the first use of the Scorpio teleport bracelets (although Avon only uses one as a communicator and none of the crew are actually wearing them when they teleport aboard). *Orac reprogramming who Slave accepts commands from echoes him reprogramming Zen as mentioned in "Redemption" and "Powerplay". Quotes Vila: They're fool-proof. Tarrant: Well, perhaps... Vila: And before you say it, they're Avon-proof too. Avon: (Choosing a weapon) I'll have a neutron blaster. Gunn Sar: No neutron blasters. Avon: In that case, I'll have a glove. Vila: Have you ever seen a nuclear compression charge go off? It's like a mini black hole. Looks good. From a distance. Pella: (After Avon shoots her in self-defence) That was always the easy answer for the man. The Hommik! Avon: If you didn't want the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question. Avon: You can have wars between races, wars between cultures, wars between planets. But once you start having war between the sexes, you eventually run out of people. Home video releases * Original BBC video release (Volume 21) in 1992. * Fabulous Films video reissue (Volume 21) on 5 July 1999. * DVD release as part of the Series 4 box set on 24 April 2006. External links * References Category:Series D episodes